The Gilded Cage - Chapter 141

The calm atmosphere in the room became lingering and ambiguous again.

Unknowingly, Xiao Kezhi, who had already stood by the bed, returned to the bed again, hugged her intimately in his arms, and kept pestering her.

“I’m also a little bit reluctant, so I’ll stay here tonight, okay?”

A thin layer of sweat dripped from the forehead of Chu Ning, which had just been wiped dry with a towel. Hearing this, she raised his head and asked feebly, “This place is far away from the Taiji Hall. Your Majesty will attend the court meeting tomorrow. Won’t your stay here hinder Your Majesty?”

“It’s okay, I’ll just get up earlier.” He felt satisfied in his heart. How could he abandon her and go back to the empty Ganlu Hall alone?

What she said just now really excited him.

She shouldn’t ever be someone who restrained herself like that, but the experience of the past two years has brought her invisible shackles, and now that she was suddenly untied, she was still numb and at a loss for what to do.

In the past two months, he has always deliberately led her to learn to understand her own heart, sometimes forcing, sometimes coaxing, just to let her speak out her feelings and desires frankly.

Now, she finally recovered a little bit, became vivid, flesh and blood, complete, and even responded to his feelings…

Even if it was just not being able to bear letting him go, it made him feel shocked, and he realized that his thoughts were not in vain.

In this way, he could consider this her initiative to take a step towards him, right?

While stroking her back, he recalled many previous situations in his mind and suddenly seemed to remember something, held his breath, and asked in a deep voice, “A”Ning, did you only say this because you’re anxious to let me reverse the case for your father?”

Back then in Feishuang Palace, he had said that he wanted her to leave the prince voluntarily and come to his side.

Chu Ning leaned in his arms and was silent for a moment, until her heart that had just flown up to the clouds was about to sink a little bit, then she gently shook his head, “No, it’s the truth.”

“Your Majesty is good. I have seen it all these days, and I naturally believe in Your Majesty’s behavior and my father’s affairs. I am not in a hurry.”

He immediately felt relieved.

“I will help you with this matter, not only for you, but also for myself.” He thought for a while, and finally said what was in his heart, “The conditions I gave you at the beginning were only for my own selfishness.”

When Chu Ning heard this, her original apprehension disappeared, and she looked at him in surprise, asking, “What do Your Majesty’s words mean?”

She thought about it and suddenly remembered the details of the past and couldn’t help but guess, “Could it be that Your Majesty did recognize my father in the past?”

“That’s right.” Xiao Kezhi let her go and slowly sat up straight, with a serious look on his face, “I didn’t have any relationship with your father, but he did help me.”

At the beginning, he managed to escape from the iron hooves of the Beirong people. After walking back to the government office of the Ganzhou government office, he fell ill and was bedridden for three months before finally recovering.

At that time, all the guards close to him had died, and he was alone in Ganzhou and finally became truly a helpless person.

The local officials in Ganzhou were so scornful of him. Even though they allowed him to live, they still ignored him.

The Beirong people suddenly attacked. Although they looted and killed many people, they left on their own within a few days. The news was reported to Changan, but there was no response from the imperial court as if they didn’t care about the safety of the people in the frontier at all.

When he was disheartened, he received a letter written by Chu Qianyu, who had just been promoted to Grand Chancellor.

The letter was very short, just asking him how the King of Qin was doing in the frontier. Presumably, Chu Qianyu sent a letter to inquire because his situation was not mentioned in the memorial to Changan.

However, he felt mixed feelings. He never expected that there would be someone in the court who remembered him. Even before that, he had never spoken a word to the new Grand Chancellor.

It had been a long time since he’d been cared for so much by anyone, even if it were just a letter with a few words. He wrote several sheets of paper in reply, writing down all the depressed experiences of those days as if venting, and there is no lack of resentment and dissatisfaction.

However, he didn’t realize the inappropriateness of his actions until the letter had been sent and he gradually withdrew from the painful emotions. If the other party were a caring person and brought this letter from him to the Empress Dowager, it would definitely lead to catastrophe for him. At that time, wouldn’t his mother’s good intentions before she died be in vain?

For three whole months of anxiety, there was no news of the Empress Dowager’s anger from Changan, but another reply letter was delivered to him.

The handwriting was still strong and concise, but between the lines, it had mostly words of encouragement to him. At the end of the letter, he pointed out earnestly that Changan was a place of right and wrong, and to him, a powerless bastard who has lost his mother, it was no different from a dragon’s lair and a tiger’s den. If he really wanted to get rid of the current predicament, he might as well start from the nearest place. It should be known that “misfortune is where blessings depend”, how could he know that the hardships he suffered in the northwest frontier would not push him to great heights?

“At that time, I was only a fifteen-year-old boy. No one had ever talked to me like this. Even my mother just advised me to stay away from disputes. It was enough for me to spend the rest of my life in Ganzhou.”

When Xiao Kezhi talked about that time, there was emotion and gratitude in his eyes, “It was your father’s words that made me gradually understand that my unwillingness and desire should be transformed into accumulated strength. Later, when I quietly returned to Changan, I would always secretly check on your father’s situation. I have always respected him very much.”

He once saw Chu Qianyu taking his daughter out for an outing away from Changan City.